Music-roll.



G. H DAVIS.

music non.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21. I915- 1,294,628. Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

f .1. E g' 3 I 2 El mum d201,

UNITED STATES PJYTEN T OFFICE.

GEORGE HOWLETT DAVIS, OF LLEWELLYN PARK, NEW JERSEY.

MUSIC-ROLL.

Application filed February 27, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Hownn'rr Davis, a citizen of the United States, residing at Llewellyn Park, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey. have invented new and useful Improvements in Music- Rolls, of which the following i a specifica tion.

This invention relates to music rolls such as employed in connection with automatic piano players. The piano players referred to embody a. take-up roll opposite to which the music roll is supported, and the perforated sheet carried upon the music roll is attached to the take-up roll and is wound thereupon when the mechanism is playing, the music sheet being drawn across a tracker bar in such a way that the perforations in the sheet control the action of the musical instrument.

The music I'Olls used with such instruments present end flanges or heads which act as guides for the edge of the perforated sheet, and these heads or end flanges on the music roll are of large diameter so that when the perforated sheet has been wound upon the body of the music roll these collars or flanges usually project beyond the roll of the perforated sheet.

I have recently placed upon the market perforated sheets or music rolls which are attachable to the end of a music sheet such as referred to above. These attached music sheets supplement the main sheet on the roll and may be played from at the same time as the main music sheet. If desired several of these supplementary music sheets may be provided and strung together in succession so as to wrap upon the main music roll outside of the main sheet of music. These supplemental music sheets afford means for supplying the present demand for short, catchy and popular airs but which may not be of great permanent value.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a special music roll particularly adapted for carryin a plurality of such supplemental music s eets and which can be used for carrying the sheets and for playing from the sheets in succession without necessitating the use of a regular music roll for that purpose.

A further object of the invention is to produce a music roll which is very simple and inexpensive in construction but which will operate effectively to carry a perforated Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1919.

Serial No. 10,953.

music sheet when mounted in the piano player and upon which a plurality of music sheets may be rewound as in the regular way upon the usual music roll, after the pieces have been played.

A further object of the invention is to produce a plurality of music sheets capable of being strung together as suggested and to provide a music roll cooperating with the same in such a way that the sheets may be interchangeable, that is, the order in which they are attached together is immaterial so that any one of the music sheets may be attached directly to the body of the roll. Further objects of the invention will appear more clearly hereinafter.

The invention consists in the combination of parts, and features to be described in the following specification, all of which contribute to produce an eflicient music roll, and the broad scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims. A pre ferred embodiment of the invention is set forth in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view indicwting the relation of the music roll, the takeup roll and the tracker across which the per forated sheet is drawn.

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation showing a plurality of music sheets such as I have described and representin the same attached to but unwound from t e body of the roll. In this view the perforated sheets are represented as broken away.

Fig. 3 is an elevation showing a music roll with the heads of the roll removed.

Fig. 4 is an elevation partly broken away and shown in section, the heads of the roll being represented removed and adjacent to the ends of the roll to which they attach.

Fig. 5 is a detail view in elevation showing one end of the roll and particularly illustrating the preferred means for attaching the driving head to the roll.

Fig. 6 is a cross-section taken through the end of the roll illustrated in Fig. 5 and further illustrating the preferred construction at this point.

Fig. 7 is a cross-section taken at the middle of the roll and showing a detail of one manner of attaching the innermost music sheet to the roll.

Fig. 8 is an end elevation of the music roll particularly illustratin the driving head.

Referring more particularly to the parts 10 represents a take-up roll upon which the perforated sheet 11 is wound from a music roll 12 when the instrument is playing, the said perforated sheet 11 being drawn across a tracker board 13 so that the perforations 14 in the sheet control the orifices 15 of the tracker board'which lead to the pneumatic mechanism which controls the action of the instrument. Any suitable mechanism not illustrated is employed for rotating the take-up roll 10. After the piece has been played the music sheet 11 is rewound upon the music roll 12, the rewinding being effected by rotating the music roll 12 through a driving spindle 16 which is connected with the rewinding mechanism.

The music roll 12 when embodying my invention preferably comprises a spool,

which may be in the form of a cylindrical shell, or hollow spindle 17 to which a plurality of music sheets 18, 19 may be attached so as to wind thereupon in succession. I provide the music sheets and the spool with complementary interconnecting means. For this purpose the music sheets preferably have each at their back ends a hook 20 and l at their forward ends a ring 21 so that they may be readily strung together in the manner indicated, the outer or front end of the take-up rolls of ordinary piano players.

The music roll preferably comprises two re .movable heads 23 and 24, the former of which has the usual round socket to engage aspring-pressed spindle 24 projecting from the frame of the instrument. These heads are preferably received in sockets at the ends of the spool 17, and in order to get the effect of sockets I prefer to form the spool 17 of an open tube of cardboard or similar inexpensive material, and provide the flanges 23 and 24 with bodies or plugs 25 and 26 which are adapted to fit neatly in the bore of the tube or spool. And in order to provide complementary means for attaching the innermostmusic sheet 18 to the spool I: prefer to provide the middle point of the wallthereof with an opening 27 which is sufiiciently large to permit the introduction of one ofthe hooks 20. The hook which is 'iinitroduced in the manner suggested may be igage with. the inner side of thetubeaat the edgeiof the opening 27.

iI doz rnot confine myself teeny particular means for attaching the music sheet to the spool, :and this may be temporary, permanent; cmotherwise as maybe desired.

In order to effect a rigid or ti ht driving connection between the spool 1 and head 24 I prefer to provide a simple interlocking connection between these parts but which will enable the parts to be readily detached from each other when desired. For this purpose I prefer to provide a plug or body 26 for the head 24 which is loosely insertible in the socket or open end of the spool, and the plug and shell or tube 17 are constructed so that a relative rotation of the head in the driving direction yieldingly tightens the head in the tube. For this purpose the body 26 is preferably provided with a tapered lug 28 preferably presenting an inclined face 29, see Fig. 6, and I also prefer to provide the adjacent end or edge of the spool 17 with a recess or notch 30 which will receive this lug. If the plug 26 is coinpletely inserted in the end of the tube with the lug 28 in the notch the flange 24 can then be slightly rotated relatively to the tube so that the inclined face 29 will jam under the side edge 31 of the notch (see Fig. 5) and this will effectively interlock the driving head and the spool 17. This driving head on the outer side preferably presents a depressed notch or angular socket 32 which receives the flattened end of the driving spindle 16 in the well understood manner. In other words this socket 32 is of the usual form employed in the construction of the driving heads of music rolls for instruments of this kind.

As will be clear, the particular arrangement by means of which head 24 and shell 17 are engaged to provide for drive action, is of material advantage. By this arrangement, head 24 is readily inserted into the shell until the flange of the head abuts the end of'the shell. lug 28 freelyentering into the notch during this inserting movement,

so that the head is freely admitted or removed from the shell whenever the lug is in alinement with the notch. Vlhen the head is inserted into a wound music roll, lug 2S isentirely hidden, the flange of the head extending to the edge of the roll, the roll widthgenerally being equal to the length of the shell. While the introduction of the head in this manner is somewhat similar to win the movement, the drive engagement of head 24 and the shell is on the outer inclined face of the lug, thus causing the strain to be enertedmore or less radially, the shell 'bein jammed between this inclined face of" the lu and the superposed roll, this jamming e ect being produced by reason of the relative movement between the head and the shell exerted in the direction of rotation. As a result, the radial walls of the recess are unaflected by the driving strains, since there is no application of any pressure on to these Walls or faces, the ressure, as heretofore stated, being exerte in directions more or less radial, and obviously resisted by the superposed sheet roll which is mounted on the shell. Consequently, the question of degree of pressure which may be applied through resistance or drive action is more or less immaterial even though the shell be formed of material which, in itself, is not of a character to Withstand material pressures. In other words, there is no engagement between the lug and the recess such as provides for drive action, this engagement bein provided by the portion of the shell whic engages the outer inclined face of the lug and is made active by the relative movements of the head and shell in a rotatable direction.

When the heads are properly seated they will come against the ends of the spool or roll body 17, so that they operate as guides for the edges of the music sheets 18 and 19 which are substantially flush with the ends of the tube as they run on or oil of the music roll.

lVith the devices constructed and arranged as described it is evident that a number of short perforated music sheets may be Wound in succession to form a music roll which can be mounted in an automatic piano player with the same facility as an ordinary music roll. Furthermore it will be evident that if desired the music sheets may be left wrapped upon the spool 17 in the manner indicated in Fig. 3, and a number of such rolls may be made up and kept ready for use; and evidently a single pair of the heads 23 and 24 may be provided and attached to each roll when desired in order to enable it to be mounted in the piano player.

The rewinding force which rotates the driving head 24 of course does not tend in any way to loosen the driving head but really tends to tighten it in the spool 17, as the winding will occur in a right-hand direction, which is the same direction in which the head is turned in order to interlock it with the spool.

While the spool 17 and its removable heads are particularly adapted for use with a plurality of music sheets strung together in the manner suggested, of course if desired these parts may e employed for carrying a single long music sheet; and if desired there may be a plurality of spools such as described, each carrying a long music sheet and each of which may receive the attachable heads 23 and 24 to enable any one of the music sheets to be played from when desired.

By providing a single point at the middle of the spool such as at the opening 27 the pull on the music sheet is direct and central and does not tend to cause the layers or coils of the sheet to Wind toward either end of the spool.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described above is only one of the many embodiments or forms the invention may take, and I do not Wish to be limited in the practice of the invention nor in my claims to the particular embodiment set forth.

What I claim is:

1. A music roll for automatic piano players, comprising a spool in the form of a cylindrical shell adapted to carry a perforated music sheet, and a driving head for rotating the spool having a body loosely insertible in the end of said shell, said body and said shell having cooperating means extending into the plane of the shell body for yieldingly tightening said head in said shell by a relative rotary movement of said head in said shell in the driving direction, said head having means for effecting a driving connection with the rewinding mechanism of the piano player.

2. A music roll for automatic piano players comprising a tubular spool having an opening near the middle thereof for attaching a perforated music sheet thereto, a head removably mounted in one end of said spool, a driving head removably mounted in the other end of said spool, said spool adjacent to said driving head having a notch in the edge thereof, said driving head having a tapered lug to pass into said notch and to engage the side edge of said notch when said driving head is rotated relatively to said tubular spool, to eflect an interlocking connection with said s ool for rotating the same to rewind the per orated music sheet thereupon, said driving head having means for effecting a driving connection with the rewinding mechanism of the piano player.

3. A music roll for automatic piano players comprising a cylindrical shell having means near the middle thereof for attaching a perforated music sheet thereto, a perforated music sheet wound about said shell, with the side edges of said music sheet substantially flush with the ends of said shell, a head removably mounted in one end of said shell, a driving head removably mounted in the other end of said shell, said shell having interlocking means in the extreme end thereof operating to interlock with said driving head by a rotation of said driving head relative to said shell in the direction which winds I said music sheet upon said shell, said driving head having means for effecting a driving oonnectionwith the rewinding. mechanism of the piano player.

4. A musicroll for automatic piano players comprising a cylinrical shell having an opening near the middle: thereof for attachlng a perforated music sheet thereto, a perforated music sheet having means for engaging said opening and wound about said shell, with the side edges of said music sheet substantially flush with the ends of said shell, a head mounted in one end of said shell, a drivin head removably mounted in the other en of said shell, said shell having a notch in the edge thereof at the extreme end of the shell, said driving head having a part cotiperating to interlock with said notch by a rotation of said head relative to said shell in the direction which winds said perforated sheet upon said shell, said driving head having means for efiecting a driving connection with the rewinding mechanism of the piano player.

5. A music roll for automatic piano players comprising a spool having means near the middle thereot for attaching a perforated music sheet thereto, a perforated music sheet attached to said spool and wound thereupon, with the side edges of said music sheetsubstantiallyflush with the ends of said shell, a head removably mounted on one end smas es of said spool, a driving head removably mounted at the other end of said spool,.said

driving head and said spool at the extreme end of said spool having an interlocking connection operating to interlock by a rotation of said driving head relative to said spool in the direction which winds said perforated :music sheet upon said s 001, said driving head having means for e eating a driving connection with the rewindmg mechanism of the piano player.

6. A :music roll for automatic piano players comprising a cylindrical shell constituting the spool and adapted to carry a perforated music sheet, and a driving head therefor, said head having a body loosely insertible in the shell, said body having means projecting therefrom a distance exceeding the distance between the shell and the inserted body and adapted to cooperate with cooperating means on the shell for yieldingly tightening the head in the shell by relative rotary movement of head and shell, said-cooperating means including a slot formed in the shell.

In testimony whereof I have hereuntoset my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE HOWLETT DAVIS. Witnesses:

F. D. AMMEN, DANIEL F. NUGENT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

